Fire-box.



Patented vJune 4, |90I.

lat/5,623.

J. COUR.

FIRE BOX.

. (Application med Feb. 18, 1901.)

(No Modal.)

. n m m n ddhjasscs lgazgior 2.? I d f -fvys l` Nitric rares PATENTOriucn.

JOSEPH COUR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

lFlRlE-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,623, dated June 4,1901.

Application filed February 18, 1901. Serial No. 47,836. (No model-l To@ZZ whom t may concern.:

13e it known that I, JOSEPH COUR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Fire-Box, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to lire boxes for steam-boiler furnaces, andparticularly for locomotives, and has for its object to provide improvedmeans for preventing cracking of the inner wall or shell, which isexposed directly to the heat of the lire within the iirebox. It isfurthermore designed to prevent the accumulation of sediment upon theanterior side of the inner shell and to form the latter so as to promotethe circulation of the water in the water-spacc surrounding the iirebox.

Nith these and other objects in view the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes inthe form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within thescope of the claims without departing' from the spirit or sacrificingany of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of one of the improved platesfor the inner side or shell of a iire-box. Fig. 2 is a verticalsectional view taken through one side of a fireboX embodying the presentinvention. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional View takenhorizontally through one side of the re-boX.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all of thefigures of the drawings.

It is a well-known fact that the inner Wall or shell of a fire-boxcracks vertically in the lines of the respective series ofbolt-openings, as these lines are in the weakest portions of the shellor plate. This cracking takes place in the fiat portions betweenvertically-adjacent boltopenings, thereby weakening the plate andcausing a leak at the edges of the bolt-openin gs. "Various methods ofpreventing such cracking have been heretofore employed, such as formingcircular depressions and corrugations in the plate, so as to compensatefor contraction and expansion; but

the bolt-openings have been formed in the flat or unchanged portions ofthe plate in straight vertical lilies between the cupped or corrugatedportions, whereby the weakest portions of the plate remain and the samecracking takes place just the same as in an ordinary flat plate.

The object of the present invention is to form the plate so that it willfreely contract and expand under the change of temperature in thefire-box and to locate the bolt-openings in such relation as to obviatethe weak places therebetween and permit of an expan sion and contractionof the portions of the plate between the bolt-openings, thereby toprevent cracking of the heretofore weak places.

In order that the present invention may be fully understood, I haveillustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings a vertical section of one side ofa fire-box having the usual inner and outer shells l and 2,respectively, which are connected by the usual bolts 3 and spaced at asuitable interval to form a water-space around the fire-box. It is thelower portion of the side wall that is exposed to the greatest degree ofheat, and therefore I have employed an upper crown sheet or plate 1 ofthe usual tlat metal and a separate bottom or lower plate 4, which isconstructed in accordance with the present invention to protect the sameagainst cracking.

In carrying out the invention I employ a metal sheet of the desiredshape, usually rectangular, and provide the same with a marginal seriesof bolt-openings 5, extending entirely around the sheet or plate. Alsothe plate is corrugated vertically, so as to form a series of verticalsockets or recesses 6 in the outer face or the face which is exposed tothe heat in the fire-box, the sockets being arranged at regularintervals throughout the length of the plate and terminating at oppositeends adjacent to the top and bottom edges thereof, so as to provide atop and bott-om flat marginal iiange 7 for the formation of the IOOthere being a narrow fiat marginal flange in the plane of the front ofthe plate extending entirely around the latter and having a series ofbolt-openings.

The openings 9 for the reception of the intermediate bolts, that connectthe inner and outer shells of the fire-box, are formed in thecorrugations or backs of the sockets and arranged at suitable intervalsthroughout the lengths of the sockets, whereby the inner upset heads l0of the bolts, as best shown in Fig. 2, are seated within the sockets andback of the front face of the plate, so that they are somewhat protectedfrom the heat. By placing theintermediate bolt-openings in the bowedbacks of the corrugations or sockets the intervals between the saidopenings are in the parts of the plate which are adapted to expand andcontract, whereby said intervals are located in the strongest portionsof the plate and are prevented from cracking by the expansion andcontraction of the backs of the sockets.

It will be observed that the vertical flat panels or portions 1l of theplate, between adjacent sockets or corrugations, are continuousthroughout the height of the plate and are not broken by bolt-openingsor perforations of any character, so that these portions of the platemay be as strong as possible in view of their slight ability forexpansion and contraction. In other words, the relatively flat portionsof the plate are unbroken by perforations, and the essentialbolt-openings are formed in the parts of the plate which are formed forexpansion and contraction, so that what are ordinarily the weakestportions of the plate are now rendered strong and durable to withstandcracking. Moreover, the backs of the corrugations are mutuallyunconnected and are therefore free for contraction and expansion inopposite directions and at substantially right angles with respect tothe direction of the corrugations.

By having the sockets or corrugations, or rather the backs thereof,projected at the back of the plate the intervals between ad` jacentcorrugations form vertical open-ended grooves l2 upon the back of theplate, which tend to increase the circulation of water in lthewater-space and do not form sockets for sockets extend asuitabledistance above'the laterally-outward bend of the side wall of thefire-box, and for this reason the upper portion of the plate is bowedoutwardly, as indicated at 133 in Fig. 2 of the drawings, so as toconform to the shape of the lire-box, the sockets or corrugations beingextended into this bowed top portion of the plate. The meeting edges ofthe crown-plate 1 and the bottom corrugated plate are overlapped andconnected by the rivets or fastenings 14, also shown in Fig. 2.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present inventionconsists in combining the intermediate bolt-openings with sockets orcorrugations, which are arranged to obviate the weak places usuallyoccurring between adjacent bolt-openings, by adapting the metallic plateto contract and expand in the intervals between the openings in directcontrast to prior devices, which are not capa` ble of expansion andcontraction in the intervals between the openings of each series.v

In the ordinary lfiat plate the heads of the stay-bolts project beyondthe adjacent face of the plate, whereby they become more highly heatedthan the plate and an unequal expansion and contraction takes placebetween the head portion of the bolt and the plate,thereby causing leaksaround the heads of the bolts. This objectionable feature is entirelyobviated in the present invention, as the plate and the heads of thestay-bolts are uniformlyheated and the contraction and expansion is alsouniform, whereby the bolts remain tight and unaffected.

What is claimed isl. A fire-box, havinginner and outer shells, the innershell having depressions or sockets projected inwardly or toward theouter shell, and stay-bolts connecting the two shells and piercing thebacks of the depressed or socketed portions only of the inner shell,saidbacks being mutually free and capable of expansion and contraction inopposite directions from the bolts, and the intermediate portions of theshell between the sockets or depressions being imperforate.

2. A fire-box, having inner and outer shells, the inner shell havingsubstantially parallel verticalv corrugations formed therein, andstay-bolts connecting the opposite shells and piercing the backs of thecorrugations only, the intermediate portions of the shell between thecorrugations being imperforate, and the backs of the corrugations beingmutually free and capable of expansion and contraction horizontally inopposite directions.

3. An inner shell for a lire-box, consisting of a llat plate having aseriesof substantially parallel corrugations formed therein withbolt-openings provided in the backs of the corrugations, the flatintervals between the corrugations being imperforate, lying in the IIOkil

same plane and forming the front of the plate, my own I have heretoafxed my signature in and the backs of the perforate corrugztt-ons thepresence of two Wltnesses. being,r mutually free and capable ofexpansion 1 `1 and contraction n opposite directions at sub- JOUEPU("OUB" 5 stanttlly right angles With respect to the oor- Vltnesses:

rngatlons. A. M. CASTLE,

In testmon that I claim the foronon' as ADAM. RE'IOHWEIN-

